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MEMBER DIARY

Corker Lies about his Fellow Republicans

As a resident of Tennessee for more than 10 years, I have stopped expecting my Senators to act like Republicans. I remember attending a meeting with Senator Corker in Washington DC where he pointed to the fact that moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats take the place of a third party. Clearly, Corker sees himself as just that type of Republican, but he still identifies as a Republican and enjoys support of the TN State Republican party. Senator Corker is under no obligation to vote with Republicans, but is it too much to ask for him to refrain from lying about his fellow Republicans to help facilitate the passage of a Democrat bill?

According to an article from the National Review (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/351885/corker-blames-sessions-crabhusker-kickback-jonathan-strong#comments), Corker indicated that he had to include special carve-outs and payments in his amendment, because his fellow Republicans were blocking amendments to the bill. According to staffers quoted in the article, the reality was that Senator Reid had “filled the amendment tree” a maneuver he has used frequently as majority leader to block the minority from offering amendments on the floor. Reid has used this maneuver frequently and also did it during debate on Obamacare.

Reid’s consistent use of the amendment tree maneuver has contributed to the rise of Republican-led filibusters on other legislation. Leftists and democrats point to this rise in filibusters as further examples of republican intransigence and hyper-partisanship. Any Democrat would tell you that more would get done in Washington, if Republicans weren’t so partisan. By shifting the blame for the blocking amendments from Reid to his Republican colleagues, Senator Corker has contributed to these meme.

I think the Gang of Eight amnesty bill with legalization first and “maybe” border security later is bad policy. I think the Corker-Hoeven amendment is smoke and mirrors meant to deceive the American public into thinking they have heard our concerns. The new bill was not scored by the CBO prior to the cloture vote. The public was denied access to the details of the debate or any understanding on the costs or ramifications of the new bill. This process of legislating makes a mockery of the concept of self-governance. It is also an endorsement of the process used to pass Obamacare. It is my opinion Republican support for this bill and their implicit approval of the process is worse than just voting yes for the bill. Further, the fact that Senator Corker had to drag his fellow Republicans through the mud by lying about the process is completely unacceptable.